Reloading EverythingWidenersLee PrecisionRotoMetals2
RepackboxMidSouth Shooters SupplyInline FabricationLoad Data
Titan Reloading
Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 21 to 34 of 34

Thread: RCBS Sidewinder highs and lows in a week

  1. #21
    Banned



    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Kansas
    Posts
    7,068
    Quote Originally Posted by mdi View Post
    I have a couple drums I made from 1 gal plastic jars. I glued a couple pieces of wood molding to the ID for agitators. I'm not familiar with the RCBS tumbler, but it shouldn't be too much trouble attaching the drive pulley...



    Perhaps, but I reloaded 12 years before I got a tumbler (actually a Lyman wobbler). None of the handgun brass I sized was "difficult" and of course I lubed bottle necked cases. No scratched brass, no damaged dies or chambers. IIRC, I got a good tax return and wanted to buy something "reloading". I just wiped the cases with a solvent dampened rag as I inspected it and I didn't care what the guy next to me at the range thought about my "brown" handloads...

    In about 1970 I was at the local police range and noticed a couple of men shooting a lot. Both were shooting 1911s and they policed their brass after a few magazines shot. I got close and saw their retrieved targets and all had one hole about 2"-2 1/2" (50') for a few magazines shot. One shooter struck up a conversation and as we were talking I noticed a 50 cal ammo can about half full of brown 45 ACP ammo. The shooter explained they reloaded their ammo. This was "pre polished handloads" and high gloss ammo was not required. Their ammo was made for shooting, not for looks...
    Yeah, but you can't tell that to the prissy Felix Unger types. They don't want to mess up their manicure or take time away from eyebrow waxing.

  2. #22
    Boolit Grand Master
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Northern Michigan
    Posts
    8,899
    Quote Originally Posted by 1hole View Post
    A quick look at an inflation calculator shows that today's SideWinder is, in real terms, virtually the same cost as it was in the mid 90s.

    No one asked for my opinion about wet tumbling but that seems quite costly (and time consuming) to accomplish something that's balisticaly meaningless.
    I am with you on this. Wet cleaning means having water, and a place to dump it. Then you have to dry the cases and with my sloppiness there will water splashed around making a mess.

    Dry cleaning is bad enough but the best of two crappy ways.
    Don Verna


  3. #23
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    582
    Here’s what I don’t get, why do any of you give a hoot what other people do to there brass. In other words just MYOB. If you aren’t contributing anything constructive to a thread then keep it to yourself. This whole country would be so much better off if people just took care of their own business. The OP wasn’t looking for any opinions on brass cleaning, merely a possible solution to a problem with a piece of equipment. Sheesh.

  4. #24
    Boolit Grand Master

    mdi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    So. Orygun
    Posts
    7,239
    Well, case cleaning is probably the most talked about (in forums), but the least important part of reloading. Many, many posts about whose "additive formula" or method is best and some include 4 or 5 items. New reloaders are lead to believe pristine brass is essential for reloading as can be seen by new reloaders asking about start up equipment and nearly always told a tumbler, often wet tumbler, is needed.

    Most of my replies are aimed at a new reloader mainly because experienced reloaders know the basics like case cleaning.

    I shoot alone most of the time and no one sees my handloads and personally I don't care what one may think of the appearance of them. If another shooter is near, I don't go check out his guns, tools, or ammo, and most (all) of the time I'll move farther away.

    I reply to tumbling threads as if I were speaking to a brand new reloader and mainly will tell how I do something and/or my experience and have never replied "you should" as use my method. If all members of a forum just MYOB, there would be little need for forums...
    My Anchor is holding fast!

  5. #25
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    582
    Quote Originally Posted by mdi View Post
    Well, case cleaning is probably the most talked about (in forums), but the least important part of reloading. Many, many posts about whose "additive formula" or method is best and some include 4 or 5 items. New reloaders are lead to believe pristine brass is essential for reloading as can be seen by new reloaders asking about start up equipment and nearly always told a tumbler, often wet tumbler, is needed.

    Most of my replies are aimed at a new reloader mainly because experienced reloaders know the basics like case cleaning.

    I shoot alone most of the time and no one sees my handloads and personally I don't care what one may think of the appearance of them. If another shooter is near, I don't go check out his guns, tools, or ammo, and most (all) of the time I'll move farther away.

    I reply to tumbling threads as if I were speaking to a brand new reloader and mainly will tell how I do something and/or my experience and have never replied "you should" as use my method. If all members of a forum just MYOB, there would be little need for forums...
    I totally get what your saying, and agree with the premise. But this thread was not about that and if someone was looking for this particular subject a quick search would more than meet their needs. I just get tired of threads constantly being derailed and then devolving into another dead horse that doesn’t need beating. My apologies if my frustration with some of this silly stuff has derailed this thread even further.

  6. #26
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    South Western NC
    Posts
    3,820
    Quote Originally Posted by jetinteriorguy View Post
    But this thread was not about that and if someone was looking for this particular subject a quick search would more than meet their needs.
    MYOB? Goodness, what do you think this tread was/is about?

    The OP asked about nothing. He simply posted what happened to his machine and reports that RCBS says there are no replacements. No matter how you read it, that's not much of a focused topic.

    I just get tired of threads constantly being derailed and then devolving into another dead horse that doesn’t need beating.
    Sorry you're so frustrated by another meandering discussion about things you have no interest in. That happens to many of us but my solution is to not read threads I don't care about; that's easy and it works!

    Note that the OP didn't ask where or how a new SideWinder bowl might be found or made, he simply described his problem. In response, we've expressed some hopeful options and a few personal opinions about the real value of wet case tumbling itself; was that wrong?

    I really don't see why you have taken offense at this thread or could reasonably find anything we've said that would be interpreted as trying to make anyone else do a thing they don't want to do. Or am I missing something?

    My apologies if my frustration with some of this silly stuff has derailed this thread even further.
    You're okay but relax, it's hard to derail something that never had a goal in the first place.

  7. #27
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    582
    Quote Originally Posted by 1hole View Post
    MYOB? Goodness, what do you think this tread was/is about?

    The OP asked about nothing. He simply posted what happened to his machine and reports that RCBS says there are no replacements. No matter how you read it, that's not much of a focused topic.



    Sorry you're so frustrated by another meandering discussion about things you have no interest in. That happens to many of us but my solution is to not read threads I don't care about; that's easy and it works!

    Note that the OP didn't ask where or how a new SideWinder bowl might be found or made, he simply described his problem. In response, we've expressed some hopeful options and a few personal opinions about the real value of wet case tumbling itself; was that wrong?

    I really don't see why you have taken offense at this thread or could reasonably find anything we've said that would be interpreted as trying to make anyone else do a thing they don't want to do. Or am I missing something?



    You're okay but relax, it's hard to derail something that never had a goal in the first place.
    Yeah, it’s cool. Just in a weird mood. Normally when I get involved like this I’ll type a response, reread it and then just delete it. For some reason I posted it and pretty much instantly realized it’s one of those I should have erased. I normally don’t take stuff so personally or get so snippy about things. If you check my posts you’ll see what I mean. It just seems like these days all people do on the forums anymore is look for reasons to derail threads and argue about dumb stuff that helps no one, and it gets tiring. So my apologies.

  8. #28
    Boolit Buddy 2A-Jay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2019
    Location
    Long Beach WA
    Posts
    293
    I Wet Tumble my Brass with SS Pins mostly because I like to. I wet tumble Range Pick up brass because (a it needs cleaning) (b it makes it easier to see Case Flaws).

  9. #29
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    South Western NC
    Posts
    3,820
    Quote Originally Posted by 2A-Jay View Post
    (b it makes it easier to see Case Flaws).
    Caution: Range pick-ups can be sneaky risky. IF the case flaw is the deadly big one, i.e. a coming head separation, tumbling of any kind will remove the shiny stretch ring near the head that is our only warning.

  10. #30
    Boolit Grand Master

    mdi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    So. Orygun
    Posts
    7,239
    Quote Originally Posted by jetinteriorguy View Post
    I totally get what your saying, and agree with the premise. But this thread was not about that and if someone was looking for this particular subject a quick search would more than meet their needs. I just get tired of threads constantly being derailed and then devolving into another dead horse that doesn’t need beating. My apologies if my frustration with some of this silly stuff has derailed this thread even further.
    Thread drift is inevitable, a fact of life. I cruise several different forums of different themes and all experience thread drift. Very few threads stick to the OP question/statement passed 4 or 5 replies...
    My Anchor is holding fast!

  11. #31
    Boolit Master Sasquatch-1's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Martinsburg, WV
    Posts
    3,211
    Quote Originally Posted by Bobbers View Post
    I have had a Rcbs sidewinder for years it was made in 1987. It was was showing its age, so I went ahead and decided to give it a restore. I dismantled it cleaned off any rust, polished and lubed the rods, made sure the knurls were good, painted it, put on new rubber feet and replaced the electrical cord. The machine ran like new.
    Attachment 286413
    I was clean several batches of brass and it worked like a champ. I load it up set the timer and left the garage. Came back a few hours later and found the drum and jumped off the machine and fell only about 6" and cracked like Humpty Dumpty. All the king's horses and all the king's men. Couldn't put Humpty together again.
    Attachment 286414
    I contacted Rcbs and they told me in the nicest way no more drums.
    Did you ever find a fix?
    A vote for anyone other then the conservative candidates is a vote for the liberal candidates.

  12. #32
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    779
    i have a rcbs sidewwinder that the bucket is shot.i cant find one either so now i dont know what to do with it.

  13. #33
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Communism running rampant!
    Posts
    4,732
    How about a suitable replacement container, then fashion a disc made out of plywood (fastened to the replacement drum) to replace the wheel and if need be a strip of thin rubber glued(stapled) to the rim?

    Three44s
    Quote Originally Posted by Bret4207

    “There is more to this than dumping lead in a hole.”

  14. #34
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    Location
    Southern Louisiana
    Posts
    56
    I have been doing a few experiments with plywood from wire rolls. I have not come up with a good rig yet. Next would be try to use the original end attached to a new container.

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check